After catching the final scene of Prisoner of Azkaban on cable today, I was re-amazed at how incredible Harry's patronus is. His patronus is so great because he is filled with love and kindness, the strongest elements for "white" or "good" magic. A patronus is a direct manifestation of what Dumbledore said all along: that love is the most powerful magic around. Then it occurred to me: Can someone as evil as Lord Voldemort even produce a patronus? It takes love and happy thoughts to make one, which I'm sure he doesn't have. I searched around the web a little, and I guess Rowling said in an interview that Voldemort and the Death Eaters (besides Snape) couldn't make one, and they wouldn't want to either since they side with the dark forces that a patronus is meant to expel (I couldn't find sources though, except for second-hand statements). However, Dementors aren't supposed to discriminate against prey, and will gladly suck out happiness from anyone. And not all Death Eaters are devoid of happiness (I'm sure the Malfoy's are happy because of their wealth, and they also love Draco... and Bellatrix is happy in a twisted way, because she loves torture and being evil). If a Dementor were to attack, wouldn't they need to fend one off as well? The natural thought is that Voldemort's patronus would be a snake, but that's something dark and evil, contrary to the magic's meaning. Am I to assume he simply can't make one?

Voldemort said that Dementors are their natural allies, he definetely didn't need a Patronus.

I know, which is why I wrote, "Voldemort and the Death Eaters (besides Snape) couldn't make one, and they wouldn't want to either since they side with the dark forces that a patronus is meant to expel."

But my main question, which really is looking for discussion and not a definitive answer, is can someone like Voldemort even make a Patronus? If so, what would it be? I feel this is tangible proof of what Dumbledore said about Voldemort not understanding the power of love, and being ignorant of any magic that is love-based. A Patronus is very significant to the caster, since it represents their deep-seated feelings. Harry was driven by the love of his parents, so his Patronus represented James. Snape was driven by his love for Lily, so his Patronus represented her.

But it's also pointed out in the book that Dementors don't care about guilt or innocence, as long as they have a supply of emotions to feed from. I don't think they care whether a person is a Death Eater or not when it comes to feeding. And based on the Quidditch match in PoA, they lost control and attacked the game because emotions ran high and they couldn't control themselves. Wouldn't a dark wizard need a way of controlling the Dementors, based on their lack of self-control?

So whether Voldemort really needs a Patronus or not, I don't think he could make one.

I wonder if he ever tried?

My guess is that he probably didn't. Perhaps he sees it as magic that is beneath him and not worthy of his time, much like how he views elf magic or fairy tales like "The Three Brothers" (which his ignoring had bad consequences for him). Voldemort's arrogance kept him in the dark (literally) when it comes to "good" magic, which turned out to be a serious flaw. However, if he accepted and learned about that kind of magic, then he wouldn't be Voldemort in the first place! Proof that our decisions define who we are, because he chose to ignore magic like Patronuses in favor of the Dark Arts.

I don't think he could make one, even if he tried. Because I'd say all his "happy" memories are of him killing people or other evil stuff like that, so I guess that wouldn't count as real happiness.

You've a good point there. Not everyone allies with the Dark Lord are Death Eaters. Take the example Dolores Umbridge. She's not a Death Eater, yet she completely took the Dark Lord's side. Perhaps she was one of those who controlled the Dementors. We all know that that toad face could conjure a Patronus Charm which took the shape of a cat.

When you said that the Dementors attacked Harry during Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff in Prisoner of Azkaban, it was Umbridge who ordered them to after Harry.

I think that he would be able to... a patronus is a good form of magic so it would probably hurt him to do it, but he prided himself on being the greatest wizard alive... I'm sure he played around with it, and I really think anyone who really concentrates can make a patronus... It just might not be as potent as Harry's...

I honestly dont think he ever even wanted to know how to make one. The caster would have to hgave a strong memory that makes them happy and he would of viewed it as worthless magic

If he had one, it'd definitely be a snake =) I think he doesn't need one, though..... weird JK didn't bring it up!!!

A new thought occurred to me after re-reading Deathly Hallows. When Harry was wearing the locket horcrux, he couldn't produce the Patronus charm anymore to get rid of the Dementors as he searched for food in a town. Hermione attributed it to the fact that he was wearing the horcrux. This made me think that maybe Voldemort couldn't produce one then, because his soul is so twisted and evil.

But then I thought, why couldn't Harry make one because of the locket? He had a piece of Voldemort's soul a lot closer to him his whole life, yet was still able to produce what seems to be the most powerful Patronus in the book. I was left to ponder the possible contradiction by myself, until I decided to post here. What do you think?

Harry was unable to cast a Patronus because the locket forced nothing but resentment and despair upon him, leaving it basically impossible to think of any happy thought/memory whatsoever, let alone a powerful enough thought/memory to produce a true Patronus.

Think about it, whenever you're at the peak of fatigue, frustration or anger, do you even want to think of something happy? Maybe that helps put it into a perspective a bit, but maybe not aha.

As far as Voldemort goes, I don't think he's even capable of creating a Patronus. If you think about it, the Patronus is a symbol of Love throughout the books(Harry, Snape, etc.), and Voldemort not only hates love, but he's simply incapable of loving(obviously).
Therefore, I do not think he can produce a Patronus, even if he wished too.

Yeah, but the main point I was making is that Harry had a piece of Voldemort's soul inside himself the whole time, which is worse than just wearing the locket around your neck. If the locket caused strong enough negative feelings for him to be unable to produce a Patronus, shouldn't the bit of soul inside Harry do the same? Especially since he was allowing the connection between himself and Voldemort to open up further in Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore even said it was a parasitic connection, which adds more evidence to the idea that Harry shouldn't have been able to make a Patronus since the piece of Voldemort was getting stronger inside of Harry. You might argue that perhaps Harry's own soul and his love won over Voldemort's piece, allowing him the capability to produce his Patronus. But then it should have worked with the locket too.

Voldemort doesn't need a patronus. He can get the dementors to do whatever he wants.

He probably didn't need to conjure one because the dementors where on his side. But I imagine his happy memory would be killing people.

I don't think he needed it.He had dementors on his side and alot of other things

I seem to remember Rowling saying in an interview that the Death Eaters couldn't conjure a full Patronus (except for Snape, who probably could because he quit being a Death Eater). I also seem to remember Snape mentioning in one of the books that there were other ways to handle Dementors, so maybe the Death Eaters used one of those.

Anyway, if Death Eaters can't conjure a Patronus, Voldemort probably couldn't, either.

And I think Harry could, despite having Voldemort's soul stuck in his forehead, because of the love within him, which was created by Lily's sacrifice.

Voldemort is so sad. I just wanna give him a hug.. whilst casting a patronus..

I really don't think Voldemort could make a patronus, even if he tried. Since he's soo evil & killed so many people, I honestly don't think he has a shread of happiness in him.

That's a reasonable answer, but it still doesn't address why the locket rendered him unable to produce the charm. Both were bits of his soul, so if the love within Harry made him overcome the horcrux inside of him, it should have done the same with the locket. Maybe the answer is the locket itself didn't make him incapable of producing the charm, but the combination of locket and the horcrux inside doubled up and made Harry's love unable to produce it.

As for Voldemort's happy memory, I don't think killing would be it. He was almost indifferent to killing, seeing it as just a tool to clear his way to power. I'd think his happy memories would be: finding out he was a wizard, or "special", and finding out he was the heir of Slytherin. Each time he acquired an artifact for a horcrux might be one as well.

Voldemort and the Death Eaters can't make one, and they don't have to. The dementors side with whoever offers them more souls, and that's Voldemort. Unless an even worse wizard came out-and I doubt that-then they wouldn't betray him.

Yeah! your right I agree with you

Agree with all of the posts. The Dark Lord, and his followers, had no need.

In my opinion, if your hate and heart is dark enough the cast the killing curse there is no purity or happiness left within you to be able to cast a patronus.

But, yes, ditto to all of the previous posters.

If Voldemort could cast a Patronus it would be in the form of Voldemort.